Beilstein Castle (Homburg)

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Beilstein Castle
Alternative name (s): Arrow stone
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: not used
Place: Homburg-Websweiler or Homburg-Reiskirchen

Beilstein Castle (possibly also Pfeilstein ) has appeared in reference works since the early 20th century as a castle near Homburg-Reiskirchen or Homburg- Websweiler . However, their existence is not proven by historical sources or archaeological findings. The castle was either completely gone or never existed.

Description of Tilemann Stella

Bey dem Pfeillstein (variant of the text tradition: bey dem Schleiffstein ) is a place name that the geographer Tilemann Stella named in 1564 on the occasion of a border description in the Feilbachtal between Höchen and Kleinottweiler , both of which are now districts of Bexbach . Stella does not in any way indicate a lost castle, nor does it draw the location on his map 5. The place described by Stella is located south of Websweiler , which today belongs to the city of Homburg in Saarland as a district of Jägersburg .

Descriptions in the Palatinate History Atlas and in the Palatinate Atlas

Apparently there is no evidence of the castle for the period between 1564 and 1934. It did not appear again until 1935 in the Palatinate Historical Atlas, now about four kilometers further to the southeast, under the name Beilstein . While map 10 locates it as a moated castle about one kilometer north of Reiskirchen, the corresponding table on page 7 of the text supplement identifies it as follows: "Name: Beilstein ( Erbach ), type: moated castle, condition: disappeared, first mention: 1564". The editor of the map and text was the renowned medieval researcher Carl Pöhlmann (1863–1947), who added a small bibliography. Whether and from which work he took the information on this castle cannot be traced due to a lack of individual evidence.

The castle appears in an unchanged position north of Reiskirchen on Map 48 of the Palatinate Atlas, edited in 1966 . Based on a long list of literature, but again without individual references, the author Günter Stein labeled it with the symbol of a Niederburg and noted its origin in the Gothic period (around 1235–1500). In the accompanying text volume, however, the Addenda and Corrigenda say without any individual justification: “The attachments [...] Beilstein (Homburg) are to be deleted”.

The castle is missing from the regests of the Wörschweiler monastery

Reiskirchen was one of the allodies of the Wörschweiler monastery since 1131 . In the regests of the monastery there is no entry on a castle near Reiskirchen or on noblemen, knights, junkers or lords of Reiskirchen for over 400 years. Rather, it shows that Reiskirchen was the property of the monastery during this period. So if there was a castle or a moth at Reiskirchen, it would have to be looked for in earlier times.

Location on site

The Feilbach , named by Tilemann Stella, flows between Frankenholz and Hochwiesmühle in a narrow and deeply cut valley. It seems doubtful that there was a moated castle there. However, the Feilbach marks an old borderline. The valley of the Feilbach is also geologically interesting. The geological map of the Saarland shows a local occurrence of igneous effluent rocks, olivine - andesite , so-called melaphyr , which are of volcanic origin, at the transition from the Kuseler layers of the Permian to the middle red sandstone of the Triassic . In the past, the hard stones were quarried in a small quarry that can still be seen today. A moated castle is conceivable in the Bruch north of Reiskirchen. It should also be taken into account that Beilstein is not expected to be the name of a moated castle.

Hamborg Castle

There is no obvious relationship to Hamborg Castle between Neunkirchen and Kirkel , which appeared on copper engraved maps from the 16th to the 18th century . This non-existent castle was evidently created on the map from a reflection of Hohenburg Castle .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tilemann Stella: Description of the offices in Zweibrücken and Kirkel 1564 , Zweibrücken 1993, p. 83
  2. ↑ Carl Pöhlmann: Sheet 10 - Overview of the castles, permanent houses and palaces in the Palatinate , dto. P. 7. In: Palatinate History Atlas . Ed .: Wilhelm Winkler, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 1935, sheet 10 and text supplement p. 7
  3. ^ Günter Stein: Map 48 - Fortifications of the Middle Ages (1966). In: Pfalzatlas , map volume 1. Ed .: Willi Alter, Speyer 1963–1976, map 48
  4. ^ Günter Stein: Map 48 - Fortifications of the Middle Ages (1969). In: Pfalzatlas , text volume 1. Ed .: Willi Alter, Speyer 1963–1976, p. 328
  5. ↑ Andreas Neubauer, Regesten des Klosters Wörschweiler, published by the Historisches Verein der Pfalz eV, 1921, all pages
  6. ^ Geological map of the Saarland , scale 1: 50000. Ed .: Geological State Office of Saarland, Saarbrücken 1981
  7. ↑ Geological hiking guide . Ed .: Saarpfalz-Kreis, Office for Heritage and Monument Preservation, Homburg (Saar) 2000, p. 32: Melaphyrbruch Folloch, Oberbexbach
  8. ↑ Ernst Christmann: The names of the castles in the Palatinate . In: The settlement names of the Palatinate , Part II, 1. Speyer 1964, p. 23